Bail refused for lese majeste suspect

For a second time, on 26 October 2016, a military court “has denied bail for a lèse-majesté suspect accused of posting defamatory images of the Crown Prince online.” Sarawut (family name withheld), 32, was arrested on 11 October 2016.

Earlier, Sarawut’s relatives and lawyer had offered a land title as bail surety along with cash, amounting to 500,000 baht in total. As usual, the military court denied bail, blathering about “the severity of the charges, flight risk and fear that the suspect might commit further crimes.”

Sarawut is an optometrist in Chiang Rai. He is alleged to have post two images of Prince Vajiralongkorn “deemed defamatory…”.

He also faces Computer Crimes charges.

The original complaints appear to have been made by “soldiers from the 37th Military Circle of Chiang Rai…”.